New infrared images from a NASA telescope are letting scientists look inside a "star nursery" in a constellation 750 light years from Earth called the "Serpent." Star nurseries like this are incredibly dense clusters of stellar dust that coalesce to form new stars.
In this "image" from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope, very young stars appear as red, yellow and orange points clustered near the center of the cloud. What you're actually seeing is a composite of 82 separate images created from 16 hours of Spitzer observing time.
This star nursery is invisible in regular light, but infrared light can travel through the dust to offer a look inside. The dark patch to the left of center has so much stellar dust even infrared light is blocked.